Clare Shaheen, a sommelier in New York, tasted four fast food sandwiches and recommended wines to pair with each. Here are her thoughts on the sandwiches.

Click through to the complete article to see the specific wines she suggests and why…

Burger King’s Whopper

With the burger being as thin as it is, you almost just get a whisper of the meat. The dominating flavor is the sesame roll. The pickles are very mild, so are the onions and the lettuce. It all kind of congeals together.

Wine: Something refreshing or sparkling,  a sparkling lambrusco

Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Double Down

I don’t even want to know what’s in the special sauce. The whole thing is a little too salty for my liking. The bacon, plus the chicken, really makes it salty to the extreme. There’s a little bit of spice, which must be in the batter of the fried chicken. There’s definitely a peppery component to it.

Wine: High-acid wine or something sparkling, a sparkling Scheurebe

Wendy’s Double Baconator

At face value, the meat seems more charbroiled than the Whopper. The cheese isn’t completely melted, and it had a ton of bacon on it. It tastes more like beef. The idea of having a double hamburger may sound a little crazy, but this is now at the point of thickness where a burger should be. Unlike the Whopper, which was basically a beef sausage patty. It’s also more meat, less bread. It definitely wasn’t as unappetizing as it looks.

Wine: a simpler Syrah-based wine or a traditional style Zinfandel

McDonald’s Filet-o-Fish

If I ranked the sandwich, this would come in a distant fourth. You can actually see the little pieces of salt on the filet, which is on a potato bun of some sort. It’s essentially what I expected – a fish stick, or a fish cube on a bun. There is tartar sauce. It doesn’t help.

Wine: a high-acid white wine…something to “completely overwhelm the sandwich so you wouldn’t have to taste it.”

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